#nezuko’s name just means beans

[fixa-ryeter]

did something cursed (japanese names except mandarin pronunciation)

[firedragon1321]

You ever just...hate a piece of media with the entirety of your being. Like it's absolute dogshit. But there's this one Character. Like, you'd post about this media all the time if it wasn't bad because of the Character. You buy merch of the Character and only the Character. You have headcanons and all this shit. But it's disconnected from the media. It's just the Character.

Anyway if I had a nickel for every time this happened to me, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but

Izuku and Tanjirou deserve better stories and I will die on this hill.

(You can add your own if you want. I'd like to see how far-flung this phenomenon is.)

[demonslayedher]

Things that went through my head while watching this episode: --This was a great episode to notice during the OP that in the clip right after Muichiro throws the sword and Tanjiro goes rushing forward in a strike presumably with that sword, you can see Yoriichi in the back lined up next to Tanjiro--almost like the pose Tanjiro strikes with Pillars in the OP! (Hmm, how are they going to do that for the Pillar Training Arc?)

--Kanamori, in some not very well-placed exposition, says that Tanjiro asked him to be understanding of Muichiro, and that is why as Muichiro's new swordsmith, he looked into who used to smith his swords. First of all, when? We only saw Tanjiro interact with Kanamori the day or two before this all goes down, but Kanamori already has Muichiro's new sword ready and stashed away in the same shop where Haganezuka is busy putting his life on the line for polishing a sword even before Gyokko shows up. The first we see of Tanjiro even hearing of Kanamori being responsible for Muichiro's sword is when Muichiro woke him up maybe an hour or so ago. This means Tanjiro had to have known this and had an opportunity to talk to Kanamori long before he even witnessed Muichiro in the Swordsmith Village. Perhaps Tanjiro brought it up as general advice to Kanamori who expressed feeling pressure for being assigned to a Pillar, and Tanjiro just wanted to be encouraging to him based on what little impression he had of Muichiro at the Pillar Meeting and whatever he heard from Shinobu (and Shinobu did tell Tanjiro Muichiro's name, at the very least). But also, perhaps Kanamori started this endeavor to understand Muichiro after completing his first sword for him, because Tanjiro only said this to him yesterday? In which case, was this truly a matter of Tanjiro seeing that Muichiro is in need of that kindness, or was it Tanjiro throwing his hands up and saying, "I don't know what to make of him, you try!"

--And that, friends, is how you can dig too deep into canon to find fanfic ideas.

--Kotetsu-kun truly is a brave kid whose response to seeing his friends in pain was to attack instead of run away. I love how close-knit everyone in the village is, they all know (and recognize!) each other by name. --Muichiro is the kind of person who would walk around a modern art museum saying, "I could do that." Kotetsu would be the one saying, "but you didn't." Gyokko, of course, is the worst of modern artists. There must be a modern day AU which Gyokko leans a bean in Chicago and Muichiro starts a "paint the bean pink" event.

--Gyokko deserves some credit here for his cleverness! Although what Muzan would have preferred is Gyokko finding Ubuyashiki or the blue spider lilies, Gyokko has honed in the Corp's weapons and focused his efforts on eliminating those. Maybe he was merely lucky to have found a clue about the village, but he developed a technique, I assume specifically, to deprive swordsmen of their Breath.

--Being taunted for having "a dull life" and an existence with no meaning sure adds weight to that "I was born to be happy" statement. --Kimetsu Academy answered some of my wishes by having Uzui-sensei and Gyokko hang out and talk art, but what I really want is to see Shinobu see those fishes.

--I love the BGM and sound effects for Love Breath. Mitsuri is just so special, you guys. I love hearing her in this Taisho Secret showing off her sword skills to Tanjiro & Nezuko, and a sound that lives in my head rent free is the the sound she made in the previous episode's Kimetsu Academy short as she falls to her knees. --One of my favorite background characters in this whole series is the guy who tried to protect Tecchin by charging at the fish monster with a naginata. ----First, naginata. I have bias. ----Second, such upstanding character! That is not a man who runs away even when the swordsmen have been slain. ----Also, while Tecchin and the other guy who got his head bumped are shameless in fishing for Mitsuri's care and attention, this is the guy who had the view up her skirt and who made no mention of it whatsoever. ----That might be because he was so rightfully distracted by the sight of her sword instead, and he gave us some smoother exposition with which to appreciate it. --Another random thing, but I love the nighttime lighting in this season! The BGM in general feels more experimental and sometimes takes me out of it (opposed to how the Yuukaku spin plunged me deeper into it), but when it slaps, it slaps, like on the new variation as Tanjiro attains a lightsaber Red Blade. Also also, there are a lot of characters in this one with peculiar and kind of old-timey ways of speaking (Kanamori, Tecchin, Hantengu's clones, etc.) that are still distinct from other characters (like Rengoku). I don't know how much of it comes across in translation, but my ears enjoy the extra characterization.

--I love--and the first time I watched this, my friends loved it too--how Nezuko and Tanjiro take turns carrying each other when they lose consciousness. It keeps the pacing fast and desperation high, while also illustrating their bond really well. What also gets me is how Tanjiro frets and tells her to let go of the sword because her fingers will get cut. It doesn't feel like a big concern because we know she's already lost a forearm and being impaled through through the torso and neck tonight, but any reasonable brother doesn't want to see his sister's fingers cut off, much less sliced with a sword at all.

--I love how Sekido is the only demon around here whose perspective is worth anything

--Quickly jumping to the end of the episode to note how we see the base of Aizetsu's neck and the top of his head still intact, so that implies that Genya munched on the bottom half of his head. In general I'm not much into ship content, but I know there is a fandom for Aizetsu and Genya out there, and I do find the idea of it being one-sided infatuation on Aizetsu's part an amusing premise. With that in the back of my mind, I could also imagine Aizetsu mistakenly thinking Genya was going to make out with him and how quickly and shockingly he'd have his hopes dashed. --Okay, so, HINOKAMI KAGURA WITH A RED BLADE AND THE MARK, TIME TO DIAL UP THE ANIMATION

--And they do

--And it's so sad Haganezuka doesn't get to see it --Like, after how much the fight with Rui blew up and the internet collectively lost their minds, we tend to just expect this from Ufotable, so the beauty they accomplish doesn't always stick out because they have to work harder and harder to stand out from what they've already given us, but this attack on Karaku, Urogi, and Sekido is a thing of wonder and it is highly worth appreciating.

--The lighting! The fluid motion and changing camera angles! But also the ability to show changes in expression, and to differentiate Tanjiro in the marked state from his usual state.

--But, again, the timeline has me in knots. Tanjiro says he was "always" thinking about that last strike on Gyutaro and how it felt different, but when would he have had time to do that, since he's spend so much of his wakeful life, like, fighting for his life against a mechanical doll? He's of course had downtime, but given the Taisho Secret in the hand-out at the early Mugen Ressha showings, I suspect comatose Tanjiro spend a lot of time analyzing and replaying that moment and doing image training. --On the first watch, when Tanjiro is thinking about how his will is tied with that of everyone around him, and even if he can't do it, someone else will take over for him, it's easy to get wrapped up in "THAT'S RENGOKU" or "this is foreshadowing all the hands in that truly final battle with Muzan!" but, I can't wait to think back to this scene when he's talking to Giyuu in the next season. Giyuu is the first person he thinks of, but also, Giyuu's hand is absent from among the ones on Tanjiro's back.

[tsukithesugarcloud]

"Hello there. It's nice to finally be able to see first-hand the person everyone's been talking about.."

(When asked for their name, they responded:)

"I'm Tsuki. Tsuki Shiruyaki. ..Yours?"

(When asked for age:)

"My age, you ask?" *they chuckle* "I'm fifteen. Almost sixteen, coming up this November."

(When asked if male or female:)

"I don't like to think of myself as either the usualities. What do I like to think of myself as, you ask? ..Well, I'm unsure myself. I'd say using nuetral terms alike 'they' and 'them', it just feels comforting.. in a way, I'm unable to describe"

(When asked for how they were lucky enough as to become one of the Hashira's Tsugoku's:)

"Well... It may be that me and Kanroji-sama share a liking to sweets. Perhaps it was truly luck, after that mission, that we happened to run into each other.."

(When asked about love interests:)

"..Huh? Uh.. Well, I do love Kanroji-sama! She's like an older sister to me. She's really sweet, and she even helped me develop my breathing, when water breathing wasn't going the best for me. I truly thank her. Hm.. there's also Zenitsu-kun. He's nice. Even if he may not think so, he's quite strong. I can sense it in him. Tanjiro's also very nice. For the amount of time we spent together when training under Urokodaki-sama, he was always kind and tender.. At first, i was quite confused by his situation, but over time... I suppose I had just gotten used to it. From what I've heard from him, Nezuko's quite sweet, too. If we ever meet again in the future, I do hope they're both doing well."

HI HI!

It's the creator ^^

I'm Sami, I go by he/him they/them

Uhh nothing much else to introduce about myself, so here's some straight-info if you're confused with the dialog ^^

(1. Their name)

(2. They're fifteen)

(3. They're Non-Binary, aka go by they/them pronouns)

(4. Introducing their rank as Mitsuri's Tsugoku)

(5. Love interests, except they don't know what it means. They simply talk about their friendship with Tanjiro&Zenitsu, and how they are glad to be able to be Mitsuri's Tsugoku)

Extra info:

-Tsuki uses sugar breathing

-their nichirin is pure white, their tsuba a silver color, with the shape like two pieces of sugar cane crossed in an x, with a circular rim around it to have easier handling

-Tsuki had trained for a few months under Urokodaki before Tanjiro came, and went with Tanjiro to Final Selection.

-That's where they became friends with Zenitsu. They comforted him, seeing how frightened he seemed to be. They didn't mind his clingy-ness, due to having a few younger siblings before becoming a demon slayer (aka family is gone now 😔)

-got their mask from Urokodaki, and made sure to keep it safe, since they quite liked the gift

-favorite food is Amanattō ^^ [Made of azuki or other beans, covered with refined sugar after simmering with sugar syrup and drying (gotten from wiki)]

Dialog from Tsuki will be "purple"

And actions will be written as *action here*

Out of character parts will be marked as (/ooc) ^^

With and without their mask ^^

"Good luck out there on your mission! I hope to see you well the next time you visit!"

[abbythewritor]

"Just her," Haikyuu x Demon reader, 2.

Description: Abby Kamado, the sister of Nezuko and Tanjiro Kamado, gets teleported to a world without Demons when fighting a demon, having no way of future world technology. But what happens when a bunch of handsome men help her get used to the world while falling in love with her as well?

Warnings: I do not own Haikyuu, Demon Slayer, or the Pictures in this book; they belong to the rightful owners. Blood, Violence, Demons, and slight cursing will be in this book, but nothing out of the ordinary. You are two years younger than Hinata, as you are the youngest in the story. Fighting scenes in this book may be terrible, so bear with me. I hope you all Enjoy my new book, and Enjoy the Second chapter, everyone, as this is a remake of my old Wattpad book, her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Alright, let's get started!"

The gymnasium was finally set up for the game. You stood around sugawara, just because you fully trust being safe with the Setter. 

But, that doesn't mean his human friends didn't bother you though. 

The orange haired human signed all kinds of questions to you, which made you sort of overwhelmed because you didn't know any of them. 

But, you also met another really nice human. You think he signed you his name, Ennoshita? Either way, he was super kind like Sugawara, and seemed to keep the Shaved human in check. 

Speaking of which. 

Tanaka, believe it or not has kept his distance from you. 

He wanted to make a good impression out of himself, and not go in your face all the time. 

But, sometimes he can't help himself since he wants to see you're cute, pretty face most of the time. 

Don't get me wrong, Kiyoko is still in his heart, but something about you makes his heart all mushy inside. 

It was weird.

Kageyama on the other hand, he just kept giving you small looks from the court, eyeing you from time to time. 

Something about you patting his head made him concerned, and question why would a complete, yet utter stranger do that?

What also is running through his mind is, why aren't you scared of him?

Many people in his past were always scared of him, but, you seem to take a liking to the other setter. 

His but was on the gym floor, ignoring Hinata's question as he stretch his poor aching body, getting ready for the match. 

Tsukki was beside Daichi, who held a blank face as he also glared at you from time to time. 

His golden eyes watch you beside Suga, a bright, caring smile plastering onto your face as you patted both Kiyoko and Suga's head. 

It irritated him that your deaf, but still could defend yourself. An annoying street rat, having herself wrapped around everyone's fingers just to get what she wanted. 

That little replay of you jumping incredible high never left his mind, angered with the X you made with your hands towards him. 

Just looking at you made him irritated, but also made his heart....

He sighed. 

Never mind, she's just a street rat anyway.

Yamaguchi appeared beside him, who was apparently eating a protein bar as he began to listen to what Daichi has to say. 

Daichi pointed to Tsukishima. "I'll play on Tsukishima's team, to make it three-on-three." He announced, suddenly making Hinata stand straight up. 

"Huh?! Is that fair though?!" He suddenly asked, making the leader chuckle. 

"Don't worry, Hinata, of course it is. Tanaka's got a lot more attack power than me." He explained, catching the bald human's attention, whose face seemed to be a lot more severe than before. 

"I won't go easy on you though." He confessed, making Tanaka growl slightly with annoyance. 

You seem to feel Tanaka's Vibrations, your (E/c) eyes suddenly looking his was as you could tell he was slightly nervous.

"Well, ahem." Tsukki then faced Daichi, who then looked at the slightly tall bean pole. 

"The buzz cut or the shorty, Who to crush....I mean, challenge first?" He teasingly asked, making the freckled human beside to suddenly freak out. 

Sugawara looked in that direction, seeing how there is already drama for the team. Taking a sigh, he went back to chatting with you and Kiyoko.

Hinata Suddenly froze, his body instantly turning around as his face held a shock, angry look towards him. 

Tanaka seemed to have heard it also, as his ear began to grow out slightly, listening in to the  conversation.

"Tsukki! Be careful! They can hear you y'know-"

"Shut up Yamaguchi." Tsukishima replied, looking at his friend annoyingly. 

"G-Gomen! Tsukki!" He bowed, making the beanpole began to smirk again.  

"So hard to choose...but I do know I'd like to save His Highness for last" He finished, suddenly making Kageyama shake a little. 

Daichi smiled a bit, a nervous chuckle soon escaping his mouth. "You're a talkative one aren't ya?"

You're ears heard the bean poles harsh Vibrations, you fist suddenly clenching into a ball a you and Suga watched the scene going on. 

His comments suddenly made the team tenser, your eyes obviously knowing that their more scared now. 

So, you decided to help as you tapped on Sugawara's shoulder. 

"Well, Well!" Tanaka spoke up, his body starting to walk weirdly as we could see you signing to Sugawara behind. 

"Didja hear that, you guys? They're talking trash now....That jerk had better..just..steppp ooooofff!" He explained, his face soon suddenly turning into an angered state. 

Turning around, a dark aroma formed around the three, Tanaka's sharp looking teeth soon came into view. 

He started to growl as Shoyo was now looking to the floor. "Or he's dead meat!" He finished, Shoyo soon looking up as his tongue started to stick out. "BLEHHHHHH!!" 

But, soon Tanaka's angry face soon ended when he felt a hand on top of his head, rubbing it to calm him down. Freezing, his body instantly turned around to meet you, who held a very cute smile onto your face. 

His heart was pumping as his eyes started to form hearts again. "G-Guys! S-She's s-so cute!" He got out, his whole body shaking with nervousness and stuttering.

As the shaved human started to back up slowly, Hinata instantly stood in front of you as he began to sign drastically, which made you slightly jump a bit. 

'Y/N-SAN!! ARE YOU PLAYING WITH US!??!!' He asked, causing your face to suddenly turn into a nervous look. 

'Why is he so loud even in sign-language?' you thought, feeling slightly bad for the Black-haired human. 

You're head tilted while looking at him, as the small finally calmed down, you felt a hand onto your shoulder. 

"BOKE HINATA BOKE!" As you're body was gently moved, you vision only Viewed a human's back, which was covered with a soft looking sweater. 

"You can't just ask people that Dumbass! What if she doesn't even know what Volley ball is-" 

Kageyama's statement was soon interrupted with your hand on top of his head, your soft fingers rubbing his soft hair as the setter froze again. 

His words soon became stumbled, while his cheeks started to turn pink in front of hinata. 

Kiyoko and Suga just laughed from your actions, already knowing that you're going to get along with everyone just fine.

Well, at least some of them. 

Hinata's head tilted, seeing how Kageyama looked different. 

"Hey Kageyama, are you blushing?" He instantly asked, who made Kageyama's face turn angry quickly. 

"O-OF COURSE NOT! DON'T BE A DUMBASS!" 

As the two kept bickering back and forth, you're head tilted from their fighting state, wondering why they are acting this way to each other. 

That, and the volume of their vibrations were irritating your ears a bit. 

Turning to the shaved human, you tapped his shoulder as his head instantly whipped in your direction. 

'Are these two usually like this?' You asked, causing him to instantly burst out with laughter. 

He was clutching his stomach, you're head tilting in confusion with his laughing state. 

As he finally controlled himself, he whipped falling tears from his cheeks as he looked to you again.

'Those dudes fight twenty-four Seven! They played against each other on their last middle school game!' He explained, causing your gaze to look back to them. 

'Middle school? What's that...?' you thought, feeling more confused than you were before. 

Not wanting to ask further, your face soon formed a cute smile as you looked his way again, soon your feet began to walk towards hinata, who was still bickering with Kageyama. 

"Hmmmmm-hmmm." you hummed out, causing tanaka's eyes to sparkle again. 

'SHE'S SO CUTE I CAN'T-'

"Alright everyone!" Daichi spoke up, soon getting the attention of everyone, except you who was now rubbing the top of Hinata's head.

The orangettes stomach started to flutter, now becoming even more nervous the more you rub his head. 

Sugawara smiled at the sight of you getting along with everyone, already feeling like a proud mom, even though he brought you in last night. 

As the captain smiled, his hand soon formed a fist which suddenly went in the air. 

'Let the game begin!'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"HYAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" Tanaka screamed a battle cry as his full body jumped through the air. 

His face was full focused, his hand was back ready to hit the colorful ball as it flew in the air. 

You were standing by Sugawara, as his face didn't seemed impressed, since he'd played with Tanaka the past two years. 

Tsukki jumped up to block it, but he didn't make it as tanaka's hand hit with full force, the ball zooming down hard onto the floor. 

You're eyebrows rose on how much power the bald human has. Such force, such accuracy, and....so loud.

Suddenly, you're shoulders started to slump, a shaky aroama forming around you as Ennoshita's eyes widened at you. 

You barely saw the ball move, as you're eyes landing on it already onto the floor. 

His power scares you, making you fleet slightly fearful of the bald human, that's until he gave you a handsome smirk, the scariness instantly left you're mind.

Hinata though it was very cool as his face light up, amazed on how cool Tanaka is.  

"YEAHHHH!!!!!!!" Tanaka screamed, instantly pulling his shirt over his head as he waved his shirt around in the air. 

You're cheeks rose with how fit he is, the way the window light shined upon his smooth looking skin, his six pack immediately in your eyes sight. 

It really didn't bother you that his shirt was off, since Tanjiro and his other male friends take their shirts off all the time. 

But, something about how fit this human was made you're heart race, causing Suga to look in your direction. 

He saw smoke coming out of your ears, you're face turning instantly read as you body accidently leaned into Kiyoko, who suddenly caught you. 

As tanaka kept waving the cloth around, Sugawara grew jealous by the way your acting towards it. 

So, he decided to help you out. 

"KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON!" He yelled, causing his other friends to nod in agreement. 

"Yeah, calm down! A girl is here you know!

"Nobody wants to see that!" 

Daichi smiled towards tanaka, feeling kind of embarrassed as Tsukki glared at him, annoyed with the human already. 

"This is what happens when you get Tanaka too worked up...." The captain confessed, as Tsukki just glared at them more, but soon his head moved to look at you, seeing your body onto Kiyoko's as a visible blush was onto your face. 

All he could do was look away, annoyed from how your blushing at a dumb wad. 

"Tch." is all he said as he got ready for the next play of the game. 

The whistle blows again as Daichi served, making the ball successfully go to the net. 

Tanaka had his shirt back on as his knees bent, his arms receiving the ball as it went high in the air. 

The ball flew to Kageyama, who's face was very calm as he set the ball into the air. "Hinata!" He yelled, as the Orange human was already running at a very fast speed. 

You're eyes followed the boy, seeing how an excited smile was plastering his face. 

As his feet stop, his knees bended as you saw his feet instantly left the ground, his body soon flying high into the air. 

Everyone's eyes widened, impressed with his height as you blushed a little at that too, but it was easily hidden with your excited looking face. 

As his hand forcefully hit the ball, it didn't get very far as the loud smack of a wall hit his ears. 

Tsukki managed to block his spike, as the bean pole looked down at him teasingly, like he was digging into the human's sole. 

Hinata was surprised, his face looking at the gym floor as his hair blew as he was floating back down. 

You're eyes noticed them both landing back down, Tsukki's form towering over Hinata, a dark, scary aroama forming around the french fry. 

Gulping, you're fist suddenly clenched as an annoyance grew inside your heart. 

"You took me by surprise before.....You have a really nice jump there." Tsukki spoke up, his eyes soon meeting Hinata's.

A smirk grew onto his face, as he then turned around. "Now if only you were about a foot taller, you'd be a real superstar. Better start taking your vitamins." He teased, the feeling of Keis annoying Vibrations were felt through your ears, making your form start to shake with anger. 

"WHATEVER!" Hinata's Voice spoke up, your ears picking his sudden Vibrations. 

You're eyes landed on him, seeing how his face suddenly changed to a more serious look. 

"ONE MORE!" He yelled, causing your heart to suddenly beat faster. 

'This human is surely confident.....' you thought, not taking your eyes off of him at all.

But, the orange human's cocky state seemed to get the best of him. 

It was 4 to 6, Tsukki's team in the lead as the beanpole kept blocking him. 

It was hard for you to watch as you felt bad for Hinata and Kageyama. 

You've heard they worked so hard from Kiyoko, but it looks like at this rate, they aren't getting anywhere. 

Unless they figure out a plan. 

You can hear each teams Vibrations going back and fourth, figuring out what they are all going to do next. 

"How many times were they blocked now?" Ennoshita asked, causing Sugawara to sigh. 

"Too many to count." He responded, making the Spiky haired human beside him to look over to Tadashi. 

"Well, Tadashi is getting a lot through though, it's almost impressive." He explained, causing the three of them to watch hinata, who had an annoyed look to his face. 

You frowned form his behavior. 

It looked like he wanted to punch the tall human in the face, which won't do good with his reputation to the team. 

Kageyama glared at Tsukki, who was getting praised by Daichi and Yamaguchi. 

'Damn.... He's better than I expected...' he thought, feeling annoyed with him as Tsukki then turned around, meeting with Kageyama's stare. 

"You better snap out of it, buddy, or you're going to keep getting blocked. Why not give him one of your royal sets...The kind that wiped out your opponents...." He joked, causing the setter to suddenly shake with anger. 

The annoyance of Tsukki's vibrations felt more throughout your ears. Making you yourself somewhat more Irritated from before. 

Kiyoko noticed your off behavior, her eyes soon looking at a dark aroama forming around you, which made her slightly squeak. 

You needed to do something...

So,  you decided to take action.

Looking over to Suga who was beside you, you tapped his shoulder. 

Confused, he looked in your direction as you held his jacket out to him, causing his head to tilt even more. 

"MmmhMM!" You just hummed, you're hand still holding out the jacket to him as the setter confusingly looked at you. 

His face then changed to a heartwarming smile, his eyes can tell you want to help which is a nice gesture. 

So he accepted you're little secret plan by taking you're jacket from your hands, the soft feeling of the silk running through his fingers. 

His heart basically fluttered as you were now walking away from him, you're bare feet pattering the floor as you headed over to his friends. 

He watched you pass ennoshita and the Kinoshita, who both noticed you walked by as they began to grow confused. 

"What is she doing?" Ennoshita asked, a blank expression was on his face. 

"I think she's encouraging them? I could be totally wrong-" 

"She's going to play with them." Sugawara spoke up, causing the two to instantly look at him. Both of the second years eyes widened with surprise. "Seriously?? Does she even know how to play?" the human asked, making Sugawara to smile more.

"I don't know, she might totally suck but at least she's going to try and help them." He explained, making the two boys beside him to look back at you. 

Their eyes noticed Hinata's face turning into excitement as you made Volleyball motions with your body. 

Ennoshita couldn't help but let out a chuckle, finding it cute how adorable you're motions are.

But, he immediately sweat dropped as he saw both Tanaka and Hinata tilt their head's with confusion.  "They are clueless aren't they?"

The setter nodded as he looked over to Daichi, soon putting a hand on ennoshita. "I'll be back." he told him, his feet soon walking away as he headed towards the

You're hums rang through the three's ears, their eyes looking at you're charades as you tried to tell them you were playing with the three. 

But sadly, two of them were confused. 

"Are you two really stupid? She want's to play. She's making volleyball motions...." He mumbled, faced away from the two as his face was suddenly bright read. 

You smile from his actions as your hand landed on the setters pretty hair, rubbing the embarrassed boy who soon froze from your actions 

Hinata and Tanaka's face brightened up, their eyes seeing sudden light coming down on your form like you're some sort of savior. 

Both of them shook it off, soon bringing you into a loving hug as it caught you by surprised. 

Slightly jumping from their actions, the warmth of their hug brought you oddly at ease, your hands soon going up to their heads, rubbing them lovingly. 

On the other side, Tsukki looked at the two confused, but slightly weirded out as he saw the waterfall coming out both of their eyes. "What a bunch of Idiots..." He mumbled, slightly Jealous that their hugging you all of the sudden.

Daichi beside him nodded towards Sugawara, who had a hand onto his shoulder. "Do you think she can help, I mean, just look how serious she is-" 

As the two looked your direction, your body soon started to climb in the ball basket, you're body instantly plopping in it as the two of them just sweat dropped. 

"You were saying about how serious she was?" He whispered, causing the setter to laugh from your actions. 

Kiyoko sighed, her form walking in your direction as her arms held you by the armpit's, pulling you up from the ball basket as your little leg's wobbled in the air, you're face turning cute which made everyone except Tsukki's eyes to sparkle. 

'SO CUTEE!' Hinata and Tanaka thought, their hearts feeling like they are going to explode. Tsukki just scoffed, his body suddenly facing away as his arms crossed, his face covering up the small blush forming onto his cheeks. "Can't we continue the game..?" He mumbled, ignoring the loud compliments Tanaka is giving you, his hand rapidly patting you're head as you just smiled up at him. 

Daichi nodded from his request as he looked back to Suga. "It wouldn't hurt them, right? Why not?" Sugawara sighed with relief. "Thank you Daichi." 

The captain just smiled. "No problem. ALRIGHT EVERYONE!  He yelled, catching the attention of Hinata and his teammates. 

You're head looked in his direction, you're mouth giving him a small smile as you bowed with thanks, which made his heart flutter also. 

His mouth soon smirked as his hand formed a thumbs up. 

"Let's get back into it!"

The game continued with Kageyama serving, his serve was really, REALLY powerful, which shocked everyone, especially you. 

But, sadly Daichi received it amazingly as he now had a sly smirk onto his face. 

As the ball flew in the air towards Tsukishima, who was already going to set it. 

"Tadashi!" He yelled to his friend, who was already running up to the net. 

But, you weren't going to let the team sly off so easily. 

Before everyone could get a chance to think they can score, you're small, little body ran towards the net, speeding past Hinata and Kageyama. 

Their eyes followed you, Tanaka's eyes widen on how fast you can freaking run. 

You used your demon powers a bit to help with speed, as a fast flash went by Tsuki's eyes as he set the ball to his friend. 

Everyone's eyes widened as they saw you, about to do something very clever against them. 

As your arms were behind you, you're leg's bended as your feet successfully pushed yourself off the ground, which made your small form Jump super high. 

You jumped higher than Hinata as the Tangerine human and the Setter Human watched you with awe, their hearts growing more mushy while they watch you. 

Your face was completely blank as Tadashi was about to spike the ball, but your hands went completely off, blocking the colorful circle as it instantly slammed straight into the ground. 

It was like slow-motion to everyone as they all saw your body gracefully in the air, you're (H/l) (H/c) hair blowing with you as the color shined in the gym lighting. 

Kiyoko couldn't believe her eyes as her glasses soon fell off her face, making a dropping sound as you gracefully landed back onto the floor. 

Tadashi landed also, as his face was just as surprise, his eyes landing on you as you and him looked at each other. 

Ennoshita-san was shaking, not with fear, but with excitement and surprised, impressed that a small girl like you was able to block so well. 

Sugawara couldn't put it together, you said you didn't know how to play volley ball! How were you able to pull of a block that good!

Not too long after, the silence throughout the gym were interrupted with screams from the humans.

Hinata instantly ran up to you, his hands instantly making motions as you can hear his Voice vibrations going crazy. "WOOOW! YOU BLOCKED HIS SPIKE LIKE IT WAS NOTHING! YOU WERE LIKE BAM, WHOOOSH, WOWW!!!!" 

"SHE CAN'T HEAR YOU DUMBASS, SHE'S DEAF REMEMBER?!" The setter yelled, instantly grabbing Hinata by the head, his legs wobbling through the air. 

Tanaka was soon rubbing your head with his hand, which caused you to lean into his touch as his eyes instantly had tears running out of his eyes. "Little (Y/n) is such a badass! I can't take her cuteness and badass nature at the same time!" He chocked up, his arm soon sunning the falling tears from his face. 

"Wow, that was impressive." Ennoshita got out, as the three of them were still surprised about your actions. 

"She doesn't look like a terrible player to me, that block was freaking amazing." The spikey human replied, causing Sugawara to just slowly nod. 

"Yeah..." Was all the setter responded as his cheeks were colored with red. He saw your hand petting the top of Kageyama's, who froze again from your actions. 

The setter looked to you, his eyes noticing how your smile was specifically towards him, probable to help the boy calm down. 

So, he caved in. 

Kageyama leaned into your touch as his head instantly landed onto you're shoulder, which caused you to let out a cute squeak of surprise. 

Tanaka cried even more when he heard that squeak coming out of your mouth, his heart not handling so much cuteness as Hinata was visible blushing beside Kageyama. 

He couldn't help but chuckle at the sight, you are so nice to his newly friends, it made him happy that a demon is patting the humans heads instead of eating them. 

Whatta sight, huh?

But, something about Kageyama was off. 

It was his fault for the miss up from his serve. 

If he would've calculated that perfectly, then they would've already gotten the point. 

As his eyes glared at the captain, who was looking at you trying to calm down a blushing Hinata, Tanaka wiped his tears while walking over to the setter, putting his arm onto the boy's shoulder. 

"Oi, I know you're upset from that serve back there. Let me tell you something. Steady receives like that are Daichi's specialty." He explained, the shaved human's vibrations twitching your ears. 

Daichi soon was patting a sad Yamaguchi's shoulder, who was disappointed that you blocked his perfect spike. 

Tsukki felt annoyed, his eyes trailing on you as your hand grabbed Hinata's, your face leaning into his touch a bit. 

'I underestimated the little pipsqueak......I got to watch out for her...' he thought, seeing how stupid hinata's acting around you. 

"We gotta keep our guard up Kageyama...." He stated, Causing the setter to sternly nod. 

Tanaka's eyes soon landed on the team in front of them, as they were looking at him back. 

You looked in that direction also, seeing how scary that side could be as the bean-pole human made a scary face, which caused you to instantly hide behind Kageyama.

"They've got mad defense."

[loosesodamarble]

Demon Slayer Renaming Continued

Thanks again to @cringeyvanillamilk for assisting me with this renaming project! I'd also like to give a shout out to @cryo-visionary, @spindaonateaspoon, and @loafingdragon for letting me bounce my thoughts off them while I was coming up with the last few names! These guys are good friends and wonderful creators! Please, check out their blogs!

Now it’s time to reveal the new names for the other Demon Slayer character for their migration into the world of Black Clover. Like with the Pillars, it was hard breaking down these Japanese names and finding names with similar meanings/feelings to them.

Thankfully, some of these characters are related to character already given their surnames so that takes care of explaining a few of them. Still, there was quite a bit of work to do.

As always, names written in Japanese are written with the surname first. Names written in English have the given name first.

Tanjirou Kamado (竈門 炭治郎): Tanjirou’s given name contains three kanji. The first means “coal,” “charcoal,” or “cinder.” Second is the character for “govern/regulate” or “cure/heal.” The final kanji means “son,” as we’ve seen in several other characters’ names. His surname is written with the kanji for “hearth” and “gate.” As a young mage a dual affinity for Water and Sun Magic, he would be... Conleth Coaler: The name Conleth is Irish in origin, meaning “chaste fire.” I like the alliteration of the name, it works with the “hearth” character in his surname, and it’s a reference to the Breath of the Sun being called the Dance of the Fire God. As for the family name, way back when, a lot of surnames came from people being named after their jobs. Since the Kamado family were charcoal sellers and Tanjirou’s name includes the kanji for “coal,” I decided to make his surname Coaler.

Nezuko Kamado (竈門 禰豆子): Although some people might think that the “nezu” part of Nezuko’s name is meant to mean “mouse,” the kanji written actually mean “sacred” and “bean.” The final kanji in her name is the one for “child.” Nezuko’s name as an elf host with dual Fire and Light Magic user would be... Lucasta Coaler: The name Lucasta comes from a poem of the same name by Richard Lovelace to the woman he loved. It’s a nickname for her coming from the Latin phrase lux casta which literally translates into “pure light.” It is fitting as Nezuko’s blood demon art is fire, creating light, and the idea of purity relating to the “sacred” kanji in her name.

Zenitsu Agatsuma (我妻 善逸): Zenitsu’s given name is written with the kanji 善 that means “virtue/goodness” and 逸 which means “flee/hide/lost/outstanding” (one of these things is not like the others). As for his surname, it roughly translates into “my wife” as the kanji (in order) mean “I/me” and “wife.” A lot of this is very straight forward and easy to work with. So, the name he has as a Lightning Magic user in the Amber Songbird squad is... Egil McBride: The name Egil seems to come from Old Norse, derived from the term “agi” which means “awe” or “terror.” It’s fitting as “awe” has positive connotations like the first kanji in his name while “terror” has negative connotations like the second kanji. As for that surname, you all are going to have to trust me when I say that I literally had a classmate with this family name. It’s legitimate. There is no way I’m not giving the name to Zenitsu.

Inosuke Hashibira (嘴平 伊之助): To start, the first syllables of Inosuke’s name are the same as the beginning of the Japanese word for boar (inoshishi). As for the meaning of the kanji, they are as follows: “this,” a possessive particle (think of it like an ‘s), and “assistance.” Hashibira is written with characters that mean “beak” and “peace/flat.” The name I came up with for Inosuke as a Beast Magic user wandering Clover Kingdom is... Boris Fritz: The first syllable of the given name sounds like “boar” just like how “Ino” is homophonous with the beginning of the Japanese word for “boar.” It’s also a shortened version of the Slavic name Borislav, containing “borti” meaning “battle” and “slava” meaning “glory” (how very appropriate for him). As for his surname, it comes from the Germanic element of "frid," meaning "peace."

Genya Shinazugawa (不死川 玄弥): The first kanji in Genya’s name means “mysteriousness” or “occultness,” which makes sense considering his, uh, unorthodox abilities in canon. He shares the second character in his name with Sanemi, which means “increasing” or “universally.” As before with Sanemi, the name Shinazugawa means “immortal river.” As the younger brother of the Jade Raptor’s captain, Genya’s name becomes... Runard Ambrose: This name comes from combining the Old Norse word for “secret” (rún) and the Germanic word for “brave, hardy.” The first half relates to the first kanji in Genya’s name while the second is fitting of his character. The name also makes an interesting parallel to his brother’s name (Adivar) since it means “truth.” It’s ironic since Genya is a more open person while Sanemi is the one to bury his feelings deep within himself.

Kanao Tsuyuri (栗花落 カナヲ): The trouble with Kanao’s name is that it isn’t written with any kanji characters, so there’s no easily defined meaning to it. Fortunately, like, Shinobu’s name, there are words that sound similar from which her name could come from. The words I found were the volitional conjugations of the following words: “to rival” (敵おう), “to match” (適おう), or “to be fulfilled” (叶おう) in regards to dreams or wishes. Her surname does have kanji which are “chestnut,” “flower,” and “to fall or drop” respectively. As a mage in the Wisteria Butterfly squad, her name would be... Filomina Castaniva: The name combines φιλος (philos) meaning “friend” or “beloved” and μενος (menos) which means anything from “wish” to “courage” to “strength.” The “wish” meaning relates to the possible meaning of Kanao’s name and the name overall is a reference to how befriending and falling for Tanjirou opened Kanao to her own desires and a greater strength. The surname is derived from the scientific name for the Spanish chestnut, Castanea sativa. I chose this specific species since it is the species of chestnut that grows in Europe.

Kanae Kochou (胡蝶 カナエ): Same as Kanao, Kanae’s name is written without kanji but we can find words with similar sounds and go off that. Her name is homophonous with the word for “a three-legged kettle.” Not the coolest thing to be named after but her name could also come from the same words as Kanao, but as the stems of the potential conjugations - 敵える, 適える, or 叶える. Kanae definitely fits with the last definition best since she had a dream to see humans and demons co-exist peacefully, even though she never got to see it through herself. With all this in mind, the name I gave her as the retired Wisteria Butterfly captain is... Desirae Danain: One spelling of the name Désirée which is derived from the French word for “to desire,” like a want. It think it's a good complement to the “kanau” meaning “to be fulfilled.” For that and how it connects to Kanae’s dream, I went with this name. I think in the world of Black Clover, she would instead have a dream of seeing the four human kingdoms and other races learn to live in harmony. She shares her surname with Shinobu, or should I say Patience.

Sabito (錆兎): Since we don’t know Sabito’s family name, there’s not much to work with. What we do have are the kanji 錆 which means “rust” or “patina” (which is that layer of green that forms on bronze, brass, or copper due to oxidation). The second character, 兎, simply means “rabbit.” From these kanji, I give Sabito the following name as the vice captain of the Cobalt Ocean... Payton Harrison: I’m basing this given name both on the fact that it vaguely sounds similar to “patina” but also on its meaning. While the sources aren’t clear, I’ve found that the name Payton supposedly means “fighting man’s estate” which is fitting of Sabito’s character. The surname simply means “son of Harry” which doesn’t mean much but it contains the sound “hare,” an animal related to rabbits.

Tamayo (珠世): Tamayo also only has her given name and two kanji to work with. The first character in her name can be translated as “pearl,” “gem,” or “jewel.” The second kanji is commonly understood and translated at “world.” As a researcher of forbidden magic and curses, and someone working against the powers of devils, I give her the name... Margareta Verelden: The given name is used in several languages such as Romanian, German, and Croatian that comes from the Greek μαργαρίτης (margarites), meaning “pearl.” Her surname is a combination of "verden" and "wereld," the Danish and Dutch words for "world," with the Dutch word being in its plural form.

Yoriichi Tsugikuni (継国 縁壱): Yoriichi’s given name is written with the characters that mean “fate,” “relationship,” or “connection” and then “one” (it should be noted that this “one” isn’t commonly used in day-to-day life and is mostly seen in legal documents). The first character in his surname means “inherit” or “succeed” (like a line of succession, not victory) and the second means “country.” Dustyn: His given name is an alternative spelling of the name Dustin which sounds like the words “destiny” or “destined” in connection to the first kanji of Yoriichi’s name. As for the meaning, that would be “brave/valiant warrior,” coming from Old German and Old English roots. Since in canon we don't see any elves with family names, I've opted to keep to that trend.

Michikatsu Tsugikuni (継国 厳勝): Michikatsu’s given name is written using characters that mean “strict” or “stern” and “victory” respectively. The first kanji works in relation to his personality, especially during his time as a demon. The second one is probably related to the fact that he was the chosen heir of their family and wanted to be the greatest samurai. Anyways, his name as the leader of the elf resurrection cult is... Viktr: The name comes from me corrupting the spelling of Victor, which is literally just one letter shy of the word “victory” and generally means “winner” or “conquerer.” Same as with Yoriichi, Michikatsu doesn't get a family name as an elf.

Senjurou Rengoku (煉獄 千寿郎): There’s not much to explain here as most of the kanji that appear in Senjurou’s name are also in Kyoujurou’s name. The only unique kanji is the character 千 which means “thousand. So, as the younger brother of Captain Eric Enfernus, he would be named... Ezeren Enfernus: The “ezer” part of his name comes from the Hungarian word for “one thousand.” Also, there’s a mountain named Mount Ezeren in Bulgaria.

[littleeyesofpallas]

Demon Slayer - Name Games

So ive been kinda getting into kimetsu no yaiba lately and on the one hand it hasn’t really hooked me or anything story-wise just yet, but boy oh boy am i loving the aesthetic and general design sensibilities.  The biggest motifs at work, at least from where I’ve read so far, that I really love are the use of some traditional Japanese fabric patterns and the use of hanafuda card motifs.

I don’t think I’ll get as into this all as I have with Bleach but I wanted to put some of these rambling thoughts somewhere, so here we go...

the most obvious hanafuda reference is in tanjiro’s earrings which are explicitly referenced as looking like hanafuda card.  ironically of all the hanafuda references though, his are actually the only modified ones.  His earrings are based on the Moon card in the suit of Silvergrass/August, and not the sun and crane card from the pine/janurary suit.  In Hanafuda, each of 12 suits has a core plant(usually flowering), an affiliated month, and within each suit 1 ribbon and 1 “animal” card. (although not all the animal cards are actual animals).

The whole Kamado family has an ichimatsu:”checker" pattern motif, although Nezuko also has an asanoha:”hemp leaf” pattern as well.  The checker pattern doesnt really have any overt meaning, as it’s a pretty universal pattern, but it does have associations with heroes and lead actors via kabuki theatre costuming.  The hemp leaf is a symbol of growth and good health, and is often used in baby clothes.

Also as usual i’m a sucker for name games.  Kamado[竈門]: "Hearth Gate" and  Tanjiro[炭治郎]: "Charcoal Regulate Son."  It's an irregular construction, as the name Tanjiro is a real name but the “charcoal” kanji isn’t how you’d normally write the Tan- part. (More conventional writings would probably be [丹治郎], which reads as [丹] "red-earth"/"rust-colored.") Both names play up his family trade as charcoal makers/sellers, if that wasn’t clear, which in turn plays into his overall sun and fire themes.

Nezuko[禰豆子]: "Ancestral-shrine bean child" is a neat name and also a homonym with Nezuko[鼠子]: "Rat child."  I assume the “rat” pun is there to evoke gnawing, as in her demon fang gag.  The bean, as a seed and as food are probably meant to evoke good health and growth, like the asanoha pattern.  

Zenitsu’s associated card is the Thunder card from the Willow/November suit.  The same suit’s animal card has a Sparrow on it.

His fabric pattern is an uroko:”scale,” pattern probably most recognized as the hojo family crest, which in turn is most recognized as being the same as the triforce in legend of zelda.  They are a stylized geometric pattern made to resemble fish or snake or even dragon scales.  They can have some implication of protection or warding, but are also commonly used in theatre costume where it evokes treachery and ambush by association with snakes waiting to strike.  probably meant as a play on his whole hidden sword skill gimmick.

His name reads, Agatsuma[我妻] "My Wife" and Zenitsu[善逸] "Good Evasion."  The latter is obvious but i dont know what to make of that surname.  Maybe a joke about him wanting to take a wife so he won’t die alone.

...

Inosuke’s associated card is the Boar card from the Bushclover/July suit.  His “fabric” is jokingly a non-fabric, as it’s just animal pelts, rather than anything manmade.

Name wise... Hashibira[嘴平] "Flat beak", Inosuke[伊之助] "That, This Assistant."  A pun on the "ino" of inoshishi[猪] meaning "boar," so his name sounds like it would be Inosuke[猪助] "Boar Assistant."  I don’t know what to make of the surname though....

Kanao and the Kocho sisters take their motif from the Butterfly card in the Peony/June suit.  The capes mimicking butterfly wings is pretty obvious but also not really a traditional pattern.  I haven’t gotten too far into their deal yet.

Tsuyuri[栗花落] "chestnut flower drop," Kanao [カナヲ].  I’m not super sure on this one, but chestnuts are probably more iconic for the nut than the flower, and the nut of course falls in its spiny shell.  They are also broadly associated with autumn as seasonal symbols.  I don’t think it was the intention but the use of “chestnut” and “fall/drop” together makes me think of scattering caltrops on the ground to slow pursuers, like a ninja. 

Kocho[胡蝶] is written “Foreign Butterfly” where the character for “foreign” is used in compounds circling around a core idea of “False” or ”Suspicious.”  But historically it can also read as “Barbarian” in reference to a particular time and place in China, but it’s the reason it also means “foreign.”  Either way it means her name can read “Barbarian Butterfly” which is just the coolest mashup of imagery.  Shinobu [しのぶ] is just written phonetically, as was Kanao.

But also Muzan has his motif of western style floral lace in stark juxtaposition to the recognizably japanese styles of most of the hunters.

I do really like the fact that the villain group is numbered according to an old timekeeping method that Japan doesn’t use anymore.  It’s a derivative of the borrowed Chinese time keeping system (which is mirrored by their zodiac cycle) and divides each day into 12 “hours”: 6 of day and 6 of night --a top six and a bottom six, just like Muzan’s 12 demons.

What’s really cool is that these units of time were actually relative to the season and the literal daylight.  So the 6 “hours” were always equal to one another, but the day hours and night hours shifted length inversely to one another during the summer and winter.  When western clocks were introduced via trade with Holland, it didnt take long for the Japanese to develop a unique clock mechanism of their own that let them turn a dial to shift the clock face around according to the season

And speaking of demons.... the fixation on Wisteria also ties back to the April suit in hanafuda, which has a wisteria motif.  There’s a family crest coopted into a design that shows up briefly modified from the Fujiwara family crest.

Anyway, like I said, I’m not super super into the series just yet, but these were just a bunch of little things that jumped out at me as I was going, and that I told myself I’d post about at some point, if i ever managed to hammer out any substantially sized blurbs about it all.  There’s a lot more going on too, even in just the handful of volumes i’ve picked through so far, but not all of it as consistent or reaching across multiple characters as a these were.

[kaibutsushidousha]

What do you mean by ridiculous names ? Is there puns or the name very unusual with fancy kanji/unusual readings for them ?

All of the above. Using older kanji makes sense since the story is set in Taishou, but most names are either unsubtle puns or relatively direct descriptors of the characters, like Gyokko meaning “jade vase”. Unusual readings don’t often all that often, but a great example is 不死川 being spelled as Shinazugawa instead of the more obvious Fujigawa (same kanji as Killer Killer’s Fujigawa btw). 

Not only that, but there also a few examples of names that are straight up regular words with no twist to them whatsoever: Muzan (cruelty), Giyuu (heroism) and Agatsuma (my wife).

Kamado means “furnace gate”, because the Kamado family sells charcoal. It’s an outdated kanji for furnace (竃) to keep that Taishou flavor. Now, Tanjirou is a much more competent and interesting name, one of my favorites in the manga. Depending on whether you interpret its 治 as the 治 in 治す or the 治 in 退治, the meaning of his name could be either “healing son of charcoal” or “demon-slaying son of charcoal”, fitting perfectly with how Tanjirou’s goals involve both killing demons and getting a cure for his sister’s predicament. Not mention a lot of Heian mythology associating slaying oni with curing illness. And the charcoal part is because Tanjirou, of the Furnace family who sells charcoal, sells charcoal. By the did I mention Tanjirou sells charcoal? But anyways, there’s even another layer to this name and which it’s why it’s one of my favorites: it can be sort of a namefication of the verb 歎じる(tanjiru), which means to mourn, reflect Tanjirou’s main trait of sparing sympathy for pretty much every demon he kills.

Nezuko means “shrine bean girl”. Specifically Heian era shrines, so it’s maybe this kanji is too old even for the Taishou era (so old that a lot of people on the internet don’t know to type it or don’t bother the conversion takes too long). But it fits the character since Heian is when we got most of the oni related mythology this series is mostly about. The “bean girl” part is probably there only to sound cute.

Agatsuma, as mentioned earlier, means “my wife”. I already considered one of the funniest I’ve ever seen before I even started the manga and it only better after actually seeing Zen’itsu’s character. Zen’itsu has a cool double meaning like Tanjirou, with 逸 potentially being from 逸する or 逸物, so his name means either “goodness missed” or “goodness at its best”, which fits how Zen’itsu is normally an absolutely terrible person in every aspect but shows himself to be ultimately caring and competent when pushes come to the shove (even if through the power of stress napping most of the time).

Hashibira means “beak flattened”. A rare name I have no idea how it connects to the character. Inosuke’s kanji mean “helper of the elegant” but the intent is clearly a pun on inoshishi (boar). Besides, looking at the meaning feels like a moot point because everyone is “the elegant” compared to Inosuke.

Both Kanawo’s names are antiquated as heck, mainly there for the series Taishou era flavor. Tsuyuri is one of Japan’s most notoriously unusual ateji names (yeah, there are only 3 instances of the manga using real people names and one of them is the name known for being weird), with it’s kanji meaning “chestnut flower falling” and the kana means “rainy season starting”, because chestnut flowers fall in early May, signaling the start of the rainy season. Kanawo’s “birthday” is in May btw. Anyways, the name was probably chosen for her specifically because of flower kanji in the middle and her Breath of Flowers. Kanawo is a katakana name, so no proper meaning, but it overall feels very old because it’s a name that uses “wo” instead of “o”. Taishou flavor, as I mentioned.

I’m skipping Gen’ya to his brother’s section because their names are matching.

Ubuyashiki means “childbirth grounds”. Kagaya had 5 children so it checks. Besides, with their family curse, pretty much all the Ubuyashikis can do is give birth to the next generation as much as they can before they kick the bucket. Kagaya means “radiant!”. Yes, the exclamation mark is part of the name’s meaning. I’m sure it’s a name all pillar agree with.

Tomioka means “wealth hill” it’s a rare instance of a real people name in this series, so I assume it must a reference to some one, but I have no idea who. Giyuu, as already mentioned, is just the regular word for heroism. Military volunteers are actually called “giyuu soldiers” in Japanese even.

Similarly, Kochou is the regular word for butterfly (although not the most commonly used). Shinobu is a hiragana name, so no proper meaning (much like Kanae and Kanawo’s katakana names), but name Shinobu is normally written with 忍 (the shinobi kanji) or 偲 (remembering, but most often in the context of remembering a dead person). The latter has obvious meaning in Shinobu’s relationship with Kanae, but the former might also have an interesting meaning behind it. The shinobi kanji is made with the heart kanji under the blade kanji (insert Monogatari reference here), so a huge cliche in ninja-themed literature is the saying “a shinobi without a heart is just a blade” (surprisingly never mentioned once in Naruto, as far as I can remember). I believe this thematically connects to Shinobu’s central character trait of wanting to have Kanae’s kindness but not being able to bring herself to be that empathetic to demons. She tries to be Shinobu but can’t force herself to retain the heart she lost, so she ends up just being a blade.

Rengoku is the regular word for purgatory, as you probably know from it being also the name of his ninth kata. Kyoujurou means “congratulating son of apricorns”, with father Shinjurou being “congratulating son of yew plum pine” and his brother Senjurou being “congratulating son of thousand”. The pun here is probably with 享受(kyouju; happily accepting something) vs 信受 (shinju; accepting a fact, in a somewhat resignated way). Another possibility less related to the conflicted with his character is 教授(kyouju; professor) since he’s a mentor character.

Uzui means “roof marrow”, but real pun is with uzu uzu, the gitaigo for impatience, a character trait fitting for a character completely centered around rejecting shinobi philosophies. Also reflects how his very first sympathetic moment was him honestly admiting that his impatience to save his wives caused him to make a few bad moves. Tengen is the Japanese reading for Tianyuan, which is the heaven’s energy which composes everything according to some ancient Chinese traditions. You may have heard of it as the “celestial unknown” or the “heavenly element”. Don’t know what it has to do with Tengen’s character though.

Kanroji means “nectar temple” and Mitsuri means “honey lazuli”. The “temple” and “lazuli” part are kanji commonly used in names, so that’s a pretty much just thrown in there to make her name sound more like a name. The real keywords here nectar and honey, since those are two words that can be used as horny words in a very subtle way, but suddenly look a lot less subtle when they are about the Love Pillar.

Himejima means “scream island”, but specifically the sad, crying kind of scream, matching with how Himejima is pretty much always crying out of compassion for others. Also, archaic kanji for “island” because Taishou. Gyoumei means “carita afterlife”. Carita is an umbrella term for all forms of spiritual training in Buddhism. It includes a lot of things we see associated with him in the manga, like sitting under waterfalls, reciting chants, etc.

Tokitou means “time transparent”. Possibly a clever amnesia reference (in the sense of how his past time was invisible to him)? Muichirou means “first son of no”, in a ridiculous match with his twin Yuichirou (”first son of yes”). Yuichirou references that multiple times in his backstory, saying it’s supposed to mean “no worth” or “no point”, only to then say it’s supposed to mean “no limits” in the climax of the flashback.

Iguro means “elegant black”. It’s an obvious anagram on guroi (gorey). Now, Obanai is easily the most incomprehensible name in the series. It means “small banana inside”, which is nonsensical enough for me to know for sure there’s a hidden pun involved, but I can’t find it for the life of me. The closest I can get is a pun with the English word “overnight” (OBAaNAIto), but I still don’t know Iguro’s character enough to know what “overnight” has to do with him.

不死川 would mean “immortal river“ as Fujigawa, but due to ateji it be comes more like “river of not dying“. Like with Kanroji’s names, the river kanji is only there to make the name look more like a real name (note: it’s not working) and the “not dying“ part is what really matters. Sanemi is introduced showing off his chest covered in scars and having Kanroji commenting on how he’s got a new scar in his last mission, immediately conveying to the audience that he’s a dude that’s not dying despite injuring himself a lot. Now Sanemi is a much more complicated name because 実 has dozens of meanings and I had no way of knowing which one is supposed to apply to him until Gen’ya finally came into play. Looking at them as paired names, Sanemi means “more reality“ and Gen’ya means “more illusion“. Can’t say why Sanemi is supposed to represent truth or Gen’ya is supposed represent lies, though. Could be something about how Sanemi knows the truth about how he felt about his brother while was fed Sanemi’s lies in their reencounter, could be about how Sanemi is a true breath user while Gen’ya is a fraud who needs to rely on Breath of Gun or going Kirby on the demons to fight, who knows. On a semi-related note, all of their other siblings had generic unrelated names. I guess their parents didn’t think of going with “more half-truth“ or “more ommision“ names before dropping the naming pattern.

Kyougai means “echoing fanfare”. Two sound related words for the drum guy. Pretty basic.

Rui is a regular word for bad influence, fitting of how he forced others into his abusive family play. It’s written with the radical for thread, so I that’s one of the ones I find more clever than ridiculous.

Enmu, on the other hand, means “nightmare dream”. And if that wasn’t redundant enough, it’s also an anagram for nemu(sleep).

Kaigaku means “sly peaks”. The peaks part is common surname kanji, so only the “sly” part matters. Obvious traitor name, which must be why he was unnamed in Zen’itsu’s first flashback. 

Nakime means “sounding woman”. Very self-explanatory, she’s a woman who plays a biwa.

Daki means “fallen princess”, which is already meaningful enough for her character, but more importantly, it sounds very close to Dakki, the Japanese for the Daji, a famous Chinese monster disguised as an imperial courtesan. Giyuutarou is a name used for courtesan assistants, as already explained in the manga itself. Daki’s human name Ume is plum.

Gyokko means “jade vase”, as I said in the intro paragraph. Competing hard with Nakime for the title of most to-the-poing name in the series.

Hantengu means “half tengu”, because his ability is to split in halves and the tengu is the youkai species he’s themed after. Kinda weird how all oni in Kimetsu are themed after classic Japanese monster but only Daki, Hantengu and Douma get to be named after the ones they represent, I wish that was done more often. Anyways, his emotion bodies all have the kanji for their respective emotion in their names.

Akaza has my favorite name in the series, which makes sense considering everything else about him is also great. His human name is Hakuji, meaning “lion-dog healer” (yes, same ji in Tanjirou, but “demon-slaying” can’t be considered as a possibility for him for obvious reasons). As explained during his backstory, he’s named after lion-dog statues often seen guarding temple entrances. He’s someone who is supposed to be there to protect others. The healer part of his name also fits with how his spent half of his human life nursing his loved ones. And then Muzan turned him into Akaza. Due to its outdated kanji, even Japanese fans find his name a bit hard to interpret, but Akaza is generally agreed to mean “castrated dog sitting on a pit”. Delightfully humialiating name with delicious irony. In the chapter “The Useless Lion-dog”, Muzan turns the lion-dog who failed to guard its two families into a castrated dog sitting on a pit. All his nobility was neutered and he was left sitting still in a pit as he has no home to guard. Before this becomes a full Akaza meta on how he’s a full anti-thesis of what Hakuji swore to be, let’s get back to talk about names. His wife Koyuki’s name mean “love snow”. The love part represents how she’s a love interest of Hakuji and the snow part reflects she always a snowflakes hairpin and how Akaza projects the image of a snowflake on the floor when he activates his compass ability.

Douma means “child exhausted”, fitting his childish nature, especially in how he’s portrayed as a child who still hasn’t developed empathy at the age of 20, and with how his backstory is all about him being exhausted by human emotions after listening to hours of worshippers narrating their own tragedies. But most importantly, he named after Doumahoushi aka Ashiya Douman, the mythological villain he’s themed after. I like how he’s the only oni themed after a human villain rather than an actual oni or youkai like all the rest, but he might be the one oni who understands humans the least.

Kokushibou means “black death pupils”. Pupils as in eye pupil, not students, of course. He has no students, but he sure has a lot of pupils. Also eyes are often used as symbol for envy, which is the main theme of his backstory. Lastly, his name is a pun on kokushibyou aka the black plague, the disease that killed the most people in the world, just like he’s the oni who killed the most people. The 3 Upper Moons all have pretty unironically good names, all things considered. His human family name means “successor country”, probably in reference to how his brother passed down his hinomaru (symbol of Japan, the country) earrings to his next generation all the way down to Tanjirou. His name Michikatsu means “rock winner”. The winner part is obvious but I don’t know the (outdated) rock kanji was picked. His brother is Yoriichi meaning “fated one”, which probably on feeds Kokushibou’s complex harder.

Lastly and most ridiculously, Muzan Kibutsuji. Kibutsuji means “demon dance road”. Yes, the oni kanji is right there on his name, same demon kanji as the demons everyone faces. And as mentioned in the opener, the name Muzan is literally just the regular word cruelty. I’m commenting stuff with a friend as I read and we semi-consistently refer to Muzan as Meanie Demonbroadway because that’s just how stupid his name is. I really love it. Thank you anon for this opportunity to talk about Meanie Demonbroadway in a public space.

[kny-imagines]

okidoki, giyuu and tanjirou relationship hcs coming right up! thank you for the request :D!

tomioka giyuu

looks super mysterious and intimidating

really is just a dumb confused emo eddgy-edge man

LISTEN MY DUDE you better be very direct and straightforward with this man or else he just  w o n t  g e t  i t

he just sucks at social interactions, alright? his social skills are = 0. and please don’t ever try to hint something to him. he’s denser than osmium (which is like the densest material on earth so far i know). hence why i hope for the sake of your and his relationship that you’re a straightforward person (or at least can be when needed)

emotionally distances himself a lot, which is like,, a big problem. has a lot of self-worth issues too :((. being a demon slayer isn’t an easy task and takes a huge toll on your mental health and his past (ughh don’t wanna get into spoiler territory, so i’ll keep it vague)) really doesn’t make it any easier for him. it may take a while for him to fully open up to you, but once he does, you just know he’s in it forever. and he’s forever grateful for it too.

such a devoted lover!! he truly truly loves you, and although he may lack in the communicative area, he really makes it up with his actions. here, have some of his share of this food too bc you looked so happy n cute eating it!! oh, this cherry blossom hairpin? he got it on one of his missions out of town bc he remembered how sad you were that the cherry blossom season was over! he is basically the definition of “actions speak louder than words”

i can see him being super into subtle affections like accidental hand touching/arm touching, blowing on hot food before offering it, draping a jacket or a blanket over the other person when it gets cold, etc. it’s nothing special. but his most favorite person in the world makes it special.

i’m not here to idolize him, but to tell you how a relationship with him could be. and like every realistic relationship, it’s not gonna be perfect, but if you both actively work on it, it can still bloom into something wonderful.

tl;dr: he’s just a super dense and awkward bean that needs some time warming up to a relationship, but once he does it’s gonna last forever (if you’re in for it)

kamado tanjirou

i think by now we know what a kind-hearted and wholesome person my boyo tannedjirou is

ALSO PART OF THE “i’m too dense to get subtle hints”-SQUAD PLS SAVE THESE BOYS

he’s just such a sweet person and generally doesn’t assume that any person could have any other intentions of being nice other than being nice!

and you have one intention.. that is making it known that you like him romantically!!!2111!!!!!2!!!

it’s okay br0, zenitsu has your back (both emotionally and physically). he may not be of biggest help when it comes to confessing, but at least you can gush together about your respective crushes :”)

will mom u. and dad u. but more mom u than dad u. doesn’t matter if you’re already in a relationship or still painful crush phase. he. will. mom. u.

you: i want to be more than friends

tanjirou: best friends :D?

you: n-no, something even bigger than best friends, something more than “like”, something like love

tanjirou:

tanjirou: so like super best friends :D??

you:

(i’m so sorry dude, but we tanjirou lovers have to go through this painful stage)

it’s so obvious that you like him, everyone knows. EVERYONE.

how is his smell super extraordinarily good when he cant even smell ALL THE LOVE FOR HIM COMING FROM U

he doesnt realize he likes u in a romantic way probably until he sees you just getting along with nezuko so well. after all, she means more than the world to him, but seeing you just taking care of her without a second thought or u offering to carry the wooden box for him bc u want him to rest,,,,, he suddenly realizes he wouldn’t mind to expand his family to u.............

MONEY IS FLYING AROUND IN THE BUTTERFLY ESTATE, EVERYONE WAS BETTING HOW LONG ITD TAKE HIM TO REALIZE AND PROPERLY CONFESS

as we already know, family is such an important aspect to him, but respects it if u dont get along well with your own family,, after all...................... youre now part of his family :)

[appreciative nezuko ‘mmgghk’ noises in the back. she likes u a lot!!]

very very affectionate!! he’s a bit too embarrassed to kiss u in front of ppl <:0 (u should still give him a peck on his cheek tho just to see his face and ears redden. so adorable!!), but very big on hand holding and linking arms!!

pls grab one of his hands and kiss it while staring deeply into his eyes. he. will. melt.

doesn’t really use pet names himself, but loves it when you use them for him!! pls be as silly as it gets (like sir floofington, my little cuddle bunny, etc), he will giggle and nuzzle your cheek as his reply!!

although he can be very dense, he’s very very blunt and honest!! (see: scene when he complimented inosuke’s face LOL)

doesn’t know how to flirt, but his honesty could be taken as flirting,,,,

you, teasingly: oh, you’ve been staring in that person’s direction for a while now. should i be jealous?

him: THEY MAY BE VERY BEAUTIFUL, BUT NO MATTER WHERE I LOOK, THE GREATEST BEAUTY I SEE IS YOU

damage: 1000

i kinda wandered off and they aren’t very specific to relationship hcs anymore, sorry D: !! if you want me to redo them, just resend the request and i’ll happily write them anew!!

[inonezurights]

plot twist: nezuko is actually going to be the one to use the breath of sun technique. theres some evidence for this scattered about the manga but it mostly plays into kny’s ongoing theme of inheritance. 

evidence under the cut!:

1.) nezuko conquers the very sun itself. 

as a demon she is able to do the one thing muzan could never dream of accomplishing (despite using alchemy and various other methods to fix this set back to his conditional immortality)

2.) the markings that appear when she taps into her well of power. she becomes more demon-like but gains a monumental power boost.

nezuko doesnt eat humans. my theory is that this is her demon slayer mark (you could argue that its just a demon mark but it makes more sense for it to be a demon slayer mark) vine-like marks appear all over her body. we know later on in the manga when demon slayer marks are revealed, that they come in all shapes and sizes.

her vines resemble gyomei’s marks in a way. demon slayer marks arent limited to a certain size or shape or only showing up in one location on the body.

3.) spider lily.

relates to the above point. ufotable sums it up best visually in the kimetsu no yaiba end theme sequence. nezuko is associated with spider-lilies. in the manga muzan is turned into a demon by a doctor through the use of a medication muzan’s spent centuries attempting to recreate. 

the medication held a key ingredient- blue spider lily. but a freshly turned muzan killed the doctor before learning its secrets, thinking it didnt work.

the vine-like demon slayer marks on nezukos body may be a reference to this!

4.) A: nezukos blood demon art. 

okay before we get into this.. lets clear up some things about breath of fire vs breath of sun.

all breaths are derived from the breath of sun. its creator, yoriichi tsugikuni did his best to teach as many swordsmen his talent but no one could perfectly recreate it. 

rengokus family utilized breath of fire. 

tanjiro remembers his fathers dance of the fire god in a near-death battle against rui. but... he was unable to sever ruis head by himself. the breathing technique took too much out of him 

(despite his father telling him theres a way to breathe where you wont grow tired even after hours of vigorous activity. tanjiro’s father being a frail man usually seen bedridden before his death but able to dance barefoot in the snow for hours)

just like tanjiros father comes to him in a near-death hallucination, nezukos will is awakened by her mother’s visage telling her tanjiro is in danger. she activates her blood demon art.

the ability for her blood to burn demons or take on an explosive quality.

its only by nezuko coating ruis strings in her blood, weakening them so tanjiro can actually cut through them.

this moments badass and turns the tides in the series but it almost takes a back seat to tanjiros dance of the fire god. its plainly there but the intrigue of his new sword style captivates the audience.

tanjiro and nezuko are the generation destined to end a cycle of hate. 

tanjiro inherited yoriichi’s hanafuda earrings.. but nezuko inherited his will and breath style. the ancestral memories tanjiro witnessed depict young yoriichi as the younger twin sibling to the first upper moon, kokushibou. 

young yoriichi is naturally talented with the sword but doesnt enjoy it like his older brother. instead opting to protect and support the weak around him (for instance their sickly mother. young yoriichi acting as a crutch for her)

(”youre weaker than your little demon sister. but anyways, youre pathetic!! You’re the big bro, so you ought to be the one protecting your little sis, not the one being protected.”

“Hey, man. How do you feel now? You’re alive, pathetic and alone. Your last ray of hope pretty much used up all her strength.”) the above page paralleling the plight of the twins.

during the fight with kokushibou he expresses similar sentiments. hes alive but hes all alone and pathetic, never able to surpass his human brother who died gracefully.

also, nezuko is often in a defensive / healer / support role like her twin counterpart. 

4.) B: Fire vs. Sun & Nezuko’s other blood demon art

Shinobu points out that theres a difference between the breath of flame and breath of sun / fire and to never refer to the breath of flame as the breath of fire. she tells him that he’ll have to speak to rengoku about it

taken from the wiki: “The kanji for "sun" (日ひ hi?) has the same pronunciation as the kanji for "fire" (火ひ hi?).”

nezuko’s other blood demon art is burning demonic poison out of inosuke and uzui

its an advanced form of the technique she uses to wake up tanjiro and the others on the infinity train!

5.) whats in a name? 

nezuko and tanjiros names. taken directly from the wikipedia:

“ The first part of her first name means "red bean" (禰豆ねず nezu?), and is also part of the Japanese word for a flower, the Japanese Snowball(五禰豆ごねず gonezu?). The second part is a common female name suffix, which translates to "child" (子こ ko?). “

nezukos name essentially means “flower child” further proving her connection to the blue spider-lily and it being an intentional detail. also interesting to note with her demon slayer marks.

“ His first name contains the kanji for "charcoal" (炭たん tan?), "to heal" (治じ ji?) and "son, male" (郎ろう rō?), which is also a common male name suffix. “ 

throughout the series tanjiro is shown to be a healer.

he heals urokodakis pain of losing his beloved students. he defeats the hand demon and releases all the dead childrens’ spirits.

he welcomes zenitsu as a travel companion and doesnt abandon him, becoming zenitsus first friend and a motivation for him to stay in the demon slayer corps. 

he earns inosukes respect and helps teach him what its like to live not just for the sake of survival. 

he heals giyuu who still blames himself for his sister’s death as well as sabitos. hes able to push giyuu to forgiving himself and working past his mental block

he even helps get genya and his brother sanemi to the point where they can understand one another again. he gives them that push

he heals shinobu. allowing her to know her older sister’s wish and legacy will be carried out even without shinobu there to ensure it. shes able to commit to her plan of taking in a lethal dose of wisteria poison so she can take douma out. 

he heals the rift in rengokus family with rengokus dying request. even leaving while still injured to speak with the deceased pillar’s surviving family. comforting rengokus little brother.

he helps kanaos heart awaken, giving her the push to do what she wants without the flip of a coin. its through his dedication and kindness he earns her respect

some examples with demons:

he shows mercy to ruis “mother” (killing her gently when he realizes she welcomes death to escape endless terror).

as rui dies he rests his hand on the boys back, realizing despite all the horrible things hes done, he was once a kid.

when confronting the drum demon kyogai (telling him his blood demon art was superb and treating his writing as if they werent trash by refusing to step on them) he allows the demon to remember who he was long ago.

he rolls the temari towards susamaru as she dies, wanting to play with her toy.

theres a few other examples but i think ive... made my point here.

6.) how?

like its creator, i believe breath of the sun came to nezuko naturally. its why shes able to rapidly gain strength in the heat of battle, why she doesnt need to consume humans. her will power is so strong (breath styles typically require self-discipline)

they even make a point of showing shes still breathing but asleep while tanjiro trains.

a style of breathing where the user can move without losing stamina... thats nezukos secret. 

this is how she will defeat muzan and try to save tanjiros life!!!

conclusion: tanjiros a red herring change my mind

[solivcgant]

❤ + pls send @nezukoo some love from us both

send ‘❤’ + a url & i’ll write positivity | @huboaris & @nezukoo

im gonna BREAK the rules here and gush about the both of you heh.

@huboaris​ okay so, we may not interact as much as i WISH we could. but that’s okay! bc we make up for it with the hilarious crack threads with lychee’s nezuko when we are all online. plus the way you portray your inosuke honestly makes me laugh when i catch you and your threads on the dash. it reminds me of kimetsu before the current arc we are suffering through. it also helps that inosukes va in the anime draws out those long “haaah” sounds and that’s seriously all i hear when i read your threads. especially when you write him in disbelief or something happening. just inosuke in his natural habitat– being that forest feral bumpkin child who gets thrown into situations where he’s trying to understand human emotions (bc what IS LOVE) or being forced to remember names. 

does he even know eiji’s name at this point??? especially with how often they argue and fight with each other?? or does he just see eiji as some rival even though eiji is just her BIG BRO man. like eiji just breathes and inosuke is ready to throw hands. take a chill pill pls B( 

i can’t wait to write with you more when we are both free! bc the dash gotta see the crack threads we have with nezukoo. and the srs but not srs threads of inosuke and eiji having a heart to heart moment for eiji to go: 

eiji: listen you aren’t sick, you’re just in love

inosuke, completely ignoring the whole sentence: YOU WANNA FIGHT?

and now for the intended gush!! drum roooooooooll please..

@nezukoo the SOFTEST little bean that has both inosuke and eiji butting heads over her when she claims who he favourite human being is. but they always lose to tanjiro lol. the way you portray you nezuko is super adorable, that it’s difficult not to have a muse want to try and protect her. jokes on them though bc she won’t let anyone try to protect her B( nezuko is like the dog meme with the tennis ball that goes don’t take, only throw. but in nezuko’s case it’s don’t protect me, only head pats. or something similar to that haha.

but lychee you’re also super friendly ic and ooc and i love how you can write a wide range of muses. like noelle the chicken who wanted to join eiji in the haunted house lol. and then nezuko who was having FUN in the fake haunted house while eiji was having minor heart palpitations. and then momiji, an ABSOLUTE cutie. eiji won’t admit it, but he actually loves teasing her by stepping close and getting a reaction from her. 

                            HES SO MEAN I HATE HIM SOMETIMES

anywho. i feel like i spam you way too much with angst and i’m EXTREMELY sorry about that. like why do i always have to be online when you post angst memes?? and then why do i always feel the need to send it in??? i always feel bad after you post a response to bc i realize.. that i forget to send in something soft to make up for the angst?? :(

thank you for always being a champ and letting me indulge in angst even though nezuko should only be given hugs, head pats, and souvenirs from long distances post missions ; A;

[demonslayedher]

Ramble on the Limitations of Looking for KnY Interpretation based on Japanese Mythology

One thing I notice a lot in the Japanese side of KnY fandom theories is a lot of deep dives into religious and mythological reasons behind Gotouge's creative choices. It is super interesting stuff, and Gotouge borrows enough and does homage to enough that there is a clearly a solid knowledge base there. While I find historical details handy for interpreting the characters, ultimately, I find that the canon of demons and Breaths can be interpreted in a vacuum without relying too heavily on the uncanny coincidences lurking in deep dives. This isn't going to be a well-supported essay, this is going to be a ramble that may include a bunch of interesting nuggets. (And then she went on to ramble for 3249 unedited words...)

First things first: I'm a nerd. I like to say I broke the weeb scale a long time ago, but I'm not exactly a university professor or anything like that. That said, I do read a lot of stuff from experts who have jumped on the KnY trends to talk about how elements in KnY are taken from, say, the sword making traditions of the Okuizumo region that results in black swords or simply making comparisons to famous swords, or local legends of supernatural encounters that resulted in split rocks, or comparing specific oni with and the heroes who slayed them or at least comparing elements of specific characters to other famous oni legends, or that Hinokami Kagura is based on a specific Shinto legend and has 12 forms based on existing Kagura traditions, etc. And I love reading this stuff, because I wouldn't had learned about some of it without my interest in KnY leading me to those articles, or as I read it I cheer because they're making references to things I already (as a nerd) really enjoy and therefore it strokes my inner echo chamber bias, or I nod along and think, "oh, yes, why of course, that makes total sense, Hinokami Kagura must be based on the dance Amenouzume performed to enticed the Sun Goddess Amaterasu out of the cave, how silly to think it could be based on anything else" but I then also take a step back to think, "...but it also doesn't have to be." For as many similarities as there to existing legends, it feels to me that Gotouge made it a point not to make specific reference to any particular mythological or religious elements. As an example, Gotouge considered titles with reference to a Shinto fire god named "Kagutsuchi" but never made actual reference to any fire god (or sun god) by name in the finalized direction canon took. Granted, a lot of fan theorists have read into that, going so far as to say because Nezuko's fire powers she represents Kagutsuchi, Yoriichi represents Amaterasu, etc., but while I find the idea of borrowed elements makes for highly interested interpretation of canon, one-to-one comparisons really don't work for this series. By not invoking a name like Kagutsuchi in the title or otherwise, Gotouge succeeded in not being boxed in by the canon of any particular deity. (Granted, "canon" for mythology can vary significantly by whatever historical writings you're looking at, with standard interpretations going through many big changes throughout the centuries. It can be as loose as it is limiting, depending on what sort of historical/mythological/religious figure you're talking about.) I feel there's more evidence of this avoidance by never invoking Amaterasu as a deity, despite the emphasis on the power of the sun in slaying demons. Even looking back and trying to figure out who Akeno placed so much faith, it was only called a "god of sunlight" as opposed to a "sun god." It's as though KnY works with a generic approach to religion. Even if the use of Buddhist element, the Nenbutsu prayer is called such, and Himejima's repeated phrases are legit Buddhist practice, but there is a huge variety of Buddhist sects and practices and theologies, and throughout history, many of them didn't get along. Going back to Akeno and wondering if she might had been Buddhist, I went so far as to suspect she was influenced by Nichirin sect philosophy based on its emphasis on the "Nichi" (sun) representing Japan and incorporating Shinto gods into its philosophy, and for its likely influence in the Kanto area in Akeno's time period, and for its encouragement for the salvation of women and therefore popularity among women. I felt pretty satisfied that it was all lining up, but also, none of this is necessary for a quality interpretation of canon. If Gotouge wanted to say specifically what informed her religious conviction, then it would had been said. But that's not what was important, was it? What was important, and therefore focused on, was Akeno's feelings toward her son and wishes for his sake.

While KnY's worldbuilding feels richer with all the clear religious influence, the details are not actually important. If anything, I feel like Gotouge dove into the heart of the elements of, say, Shinto mythology, and played those core elements up. It's different, yet still familiar, to take sun-associated elements and used them in a way that serves the story without being boxed into existing traditions. The sun is clearly important, and once you start looking for it, you find subtle recurring references to it. Like, Akeno's name? The "Ake" is one way of writing "red," and there are all sorts of uses of other ways of writing "red" throughout the series, in everything from the sand used for making Nichirin blades to the way that Haganezuka calls Tanjiro an auspicious "red" child with a very rarely used kanji. Our commoner main characters, though, just use regular old ways of saying "red" when referencing Tanjiro's appearance without thinking deeply into it, like there's something special right in front of them but they don't recognize it. Similar to how something as special as Sun Breathing was hidden right in front of them in Hinokami Kagura, with a name so generic and simple that it's entirely unsurprising that the Taisho era Kamado family would interpret it as "fire god." The very lack of limiting real-life details is what allows Gotouge to sprinkle these deep touches around, cover them up with branches and leaves, and then sit back and wait for readers to stroll through and invitingly pleasant looking field and then trip and fall down a rabbit hole. This is also what I think gives Gotouge the freedom and malleability to work with the sun in a way that serves the story, especially in ways that tie it to fire. While I don't think there's strong ties for this is general Japanese culture, the way canon is written implies a close tie between fire and the sun as being a very closely related element, hence the influence on the Kamado family, Tanjiro's appearance, his suitability for Sun Breathing based on a history of tending fire for careful charcoal burning, and Tanjiro and Nezuko capability as demons to overcome the sun. Here is where I go into a bit of a tangent about the purification element. This, again, is not strictly tied to any particular Shinto canon (and Shinto does place heavy emphasis on purification), but instead is an example of Gotouge getting to the underlying heart of a lot of common religious elements. Fire is associated with spiritual purification in everything from Buddhism to Catholicism, it's very easy to apply Nezuko's fire abilities as something which burns away something evil (demon poison) so as to purify something good (human flesh, or even other physical substances). Maybe lesser known, but very deeply entrenched in Japanese culture, is the purification element of charcoal. While it may be known around the world for soaking up undesirable elements and therefore used in everything from fish tank filters to treating food poisoning, in Japan, there's a bit of a spiritual side to it as well. For something so closely tied to the way of life for citizens throughout hundreds of years of history for everything from cooking to heating the home, it's unsurprising that quality charcoal would receive as much emphasis as good water and rice. Japanese charcoal is especially known for not producing undesirable smoke or odor, making it appropriate for use in a lot of settings. Charcoal farmers have often not just been that; they've been caretakers of the forest. Keeping the right trees, at the right sizes (both for use as charcoal and for how you pack it together when making charcoal), and in the right numbers to ensure you have stock for coming years, requires management of the forest. (Other tangent side note: many of the other names in the Kamado family are references to plants. Sumire both has the "sumi" sound of charcoal and is the word for violet, Kie is in reference to hollyhock, Nezuko is in reference to red beans (and the asanoha pattern of her kimono is in reference to hemp leaf, an

auspicious symbol of strong and quick growth), Takeo is in reference to bamboo (ironically bamboo can be a problematic plant for charcoal farmers, because it may spread too fast and take resources from other trees--stop stealing all the takuan pickles, Takeo!), Hanako is in general reference to flowers, Shigeru is in general reference to (plants) flourishing, and maybe by the time they got to Rokuta they gave up and said "he's our sixth child, let's just call him 'Six-Boy', lolz." BUT I DIGRESS.) That means the Kamado family not only had careful management of fire in the actual days of charcoal production, but of a wide variety of natural resources to ensure the trees were healthy. Natural weather phenomena, clean water, pest control, minerals from rocks getting into the soil, hmm, so many elements to pay attention to. Hmm. These sure sound a lot like other Breaths. And Breaths all stem from Sun Breathing. That means there may be certain elements of Sun Breathing that have been emphasized in each of them, but none of them encompass so many qualities of the natural world. The natural world which Yoriichi saw with such clarity than nature accepted him with open arms, practically, in how well animals took to him. Sun Breathing, while especially using that all-important purification aspect of sunlight which burns evil demons, is like an all encompassing embrace of nature. While being closely tied with fire is hugely important, there's more to it than just flames. While Shinto is very much so closely tied with nature (the extent to which this is emphasized may vary from shrine to shrine, scholar to scholar), what I see in KnY is a clever use of emphasis on spirituality in nature as opposed to emphasis on Shinto mythology. And I think that was a smart move. While stories based more directly on various theologies, mythologies, and religious ideologies often use those building blocks often wind up having very creative takes on them (even and especially with the confines of them), ultimately, the story of KnY is whatever Gotouge wants to do with it, and it does not seem guided by the specific conventions of more specific religious elements. But again, those deeper elements are still everywhere. You know what color Japanese charcoal burns? It's a gorgeous jewel tone red, spanning many of those rare shades of red Gotouge make reference to. And, in wider Japanese culture, red is the color of the sun (as opposed to how other cultures may represent it as yellow or orange or white or so on). (Not as exactly a KnY tangent, just personal: Japanese charcoal is so freaking pretty, I had no idea until I saw it used in the tea ceremony at parts when guests crowd around to enjoy the sight of it as the host prepares it for boiling the water. I can stare and stare and stare, it is so so so so so pretty, but also this element of the ceremony has gotten rarer both as many places have made a more practical switch to electricity, and tea ceremony quality has gotten more rare both due to fewer producers and due to beetle-related damages to the trees used, and I will always state HOW DISAPPOINTED I am that Kanata and Sumihiko are not out there raising charcoal, because charcoal is precious and I'm always so terrified of wasting charcoal in my practices because its so precious, but seeing the amazingly beautiful burn of the charcoal is absolutely one of my favorite elements of the ceremony and this of course gives me an extra soft spot for Kamado Tanjiro BUT I DIGRESS AGAIN, I TOLD you this was going to be a ramble, but SERIOUSLY IT IS SUCH A GORGEOUS RED).

So anyway. My point is, as interesting as incorporating outside elements may be, I don't find them necessary in interpreting KnY's canon. Even if it takes tons of Taisho Secrets to do so, Gotouge presents the details necessary, and that's more than enough to work with. After all, despite all the care taken in historical details in building the setting, KnY takes place in a fictional universe, it can make its own rules when it comes to things that don't actually exist in our universe. Demons, for example, follow a chronology and power system with sources and limits that is unique to a this universe, as tempting as it is due to general cultural familiarity, it does not call for a one-to-one comparison with existing demon legends. Breath as well, as a power system, is very interesting. Again, this is because it has a lot of basis in core concepts of real life physical and spiritual training. It's presented as a method available to anyone who can pick it up, not drawing on a mystical outside power or summoning the actual superhuman elements of nature. Other stories that present their power systems like that are well and fine, but when it comes down to it, this is a story about mere humans doing everything in their limited power to wave swords around and defeat creatures that seem so likely to outpower them. This is a common, relatable basis of stories throughout history, and a lot of analysis I've heard of KnY's success says that it shows how classic this story structure is. Many Japanese demon stories have their origin in epidemics, and some people suggest that the world looks for hope in stories like KnY in times of seemingly insurmountable crises like coronavirus. I think that's an oversimplification of KnY's success, but again, because of Gotouge's use of core cultural elements, it can be applied easily. OKAY BUT ON THAT NOTE we can do some really interesting digging if we want. : D Gotouge does make some highly specific references, included religious ones (granted, not in ways that impact the plot). The example coming to mind is the Seventh Form of Thunder Breathing, the "Flaming Thunder God." In Japanese, this is "Honoikazuchi-no-Kami," the name of a lightning deity who had a very, very brief mention in the Kojiki and who appeared among a handful of other lightning deities named in reference to other aspects/phenomena of lightning, like the sound or the rumble through the ground. Honoikazuchi is not so much the lightning itself, but the fires started by lightning. Stick with me a bit longer, I'm building up to something here. You've probably heard of the twelve animals of the Chinese (poorly translated as) Zodiac, right? Well, the system is way more complex than that, and really, if you want complexity, skip Japan and go dive straight into ancient China. I laugh and cry at myself for having a graduate degree in Chinese studies, the extent of my knowledge is is pitifully small, I know nothing, nothing. Suffice to say, China has its own five element system of water/wood/metal/fire/earth, it's more a philosophical application than a more physicality-based four element system popular in the west (fire/water/air/earth, why hello there, Avatar), with attributes of these elements assigned to every about anything through Chinese culture, from medicine to, you guessed it, the Zodiac animals. Japan saw all this and said "cool, we'll do that too" albeit their sort of mixed and matched a bit and made their own take on it in Onmyodo. An Onmyoji, who keeps track of, like, really any other-worldly matter you might have on your hands as a Heian noble, is someone who is paid to know all this stuff (it was very likely an Onmyoji who told the Ubuyashiki clan, "yeah, you got an evil family member to blame for your curse, squash him"). Yours Truly is not an Onmyoji and therefore will not attempt to go into more detail, save the one that a handful of Japanese theorists in the KnY fandom love to bring up: The Boar is a water sign. This means that, especially in Shinto practice, boars are considered an animal that protects against

fire, hence, a lot of practices to protect against fires were done on days of the Boar, in the month of the Boar, etc. So? So-o-o-o-o-o? You see it? You see it??? Boar = Water, Honoikazuchi = Fire, Inosuke and Zenitsu are basically foils to Tanjiro? Yes, yes, see it, yessss??? Deep dive Kamaboko theory, yes?????? Hahahaha. Naw. It's just a fun coincidence. ^_^ Again, I find these details completely unnecessary, for we are already given so many details in canon to work with on its own, and I think Inosuke and Zenitsu as foils to Tanjiro works entirely well simply based on their personalities, not because of any supernatural elements that require a high level of nerdery to have any hope of appreciating. Besides, once you start reaching too hard for cultural details Gotouge might have used and clinging too tightly to those ideas, there's likely something in canon to make it doubtful. For instance, Inosuke more widely presented as a king of the forest who wears deer and bear hide as well, and the fanbook state that Beast Breath is considered a likely offshoot of Wind Breathing. Even if we rely more strictly on historical detail, there's still the question of, say, what one of the basic Breaths, Thunder Breathing, even was when it was but a thunder inspired sword form not necessarily powered by Breath, you know, back when swords were longer and it would have been harder to make the fast draws katana would later be better suited for. Maybe they called it Thunder because it was practiced by swordsmen who stomped around really hard, and then when they added Breath technique, they figured out "oh dude, we can use our strong legs to go fast"??

Those are the kinds of things I find more fun to play around with in interpreting canon by bringing in little outside details, because as a work of fiction, there are already so many fun details to work with already even when treating it in a vacuum. But, giving Gotouge extensive and subtle use of cultural elements, especially core elements, it sure makes a lot of outside details applicable. Which is all to say, it's all super interesting, and I think the more people realize these things, the deeper they read into it, to an extent more than canon calls for. As much as I like it, and as much as I've enjoyed pulling outside elements in to fanfiction (like Kagutsuchi and lightning god tidbits), ultimately, if Gotouge thought these things were necessary, they'd have been included. Since they are not, I try to stick to canon details and Word of God-touge in answering Asks (lolz, I didn't plan on becoming a meta blog, it just kinda happened). BUT ALSO, JEEZ, I AM SO EXCITED IF PEOPLE TAKE A DEEPER INTEREST IN JAPANESE CULTURE BECAUSE THEY LIKE KIMETSU NO YAIBA, YOU CAN HAVE SO-O-O-O-O-O MUCH FUN PLANNING A TRIP TO JAPAN AROUND KNY THEMES, DO IT DO IT DO IT, GO TO YAGYU AND POSE IN A TANJIRO HAORI AND STICK YOUR SWORD IN A SPLIT ROCK, THE LOCALS THERE LOVE IT, DO IT but also like maybe learn about the tea ceremony and appreciate how beautiful the charcoal is with me k thx bye

[epivanosilon]

reading demon slayer: chapter 1 name breakdown

in chapter 1, 10 names are introduced to the reader. the first two are the names of our protagonist, tanjirou, and his sister, nezuko. let's take a look at the kanji.

nezuko's name shows up on page 1 as tanjirou begs her not to die. it's written like this:

禰豆子

禰 (pronounced ね) is a special kanji used in names. it doesn't really have a meaning on its own. it does get used in a few words, such as 刀禰 (とね), which refers to a Shinto priest, and 禰宜 (ねぎ), which refers to a Shinto senior priest. both of these words are fairly obscure, though.

豆 (pronounced ず) is a kanji you might recognize from the word for tofu, which is 豆腐 (とうふ). it pretty much just refers to beans. if you're confused by the different pronunciations, no worries! this website has a simple explanation of the phenomenon.

lastly, 子 (pronounced こ) is a common kanji that means child.

alright, let's go a little faster now. here's tanjirou's name:

炭治郎

炭 (たん) means charcoal. 治 (じ) is usually used in words that relate to politics or government, but it can also mean peace or cure (as in a medical treatment). 郎 (ろう) is just a suffix used in male names.

next are the names of tanjirou's other siblings.

花子・竹雄・茂・六太

花子 (はなこ) means flower child. it's a combination of 花 (はな), or flower, and 子, which you should already know. a pretty name for a pretty girl, i assume. :)

竹雄 (たけお) uses the kanji for bamboo, 竹 (たけ), and 雄 (お), which is another suffix used in male names. bamboo is strong, versatile, and flexible--fitting for the name of a bright young man.

茂 (しげる) is a male given name that is pronounced the same as the verb 茂る, which means to grow thickly. i think his mom wanted him to have abundance. ^-^

六太 (ろくた) has the kanji 六 (ろく), which is just the number 6, and 太 (た), which can mean big, fat, or great. rokuta was the sixth and youngest child. his name gives off a "last but not least" kind of feeling; the baby of the family with big things ahead of him.

just four more names to go! the next two we have are urokodaki and giyuu's names.

鱗滝　左近次・富岡　義勇

鱗滝 (うろこだき) is a combination of 鱗 (うろこ), which refers to the scales of a fish, and 滝 (だき), or waterfall. 左近次 (さこんじ) is a series of characters that literally mean left, near, and next, in that order. i'm unsure as to its significance.

富岡 (とみおか) contains the kanji 富 (とみ), or wealth/fortune, and 岡 (おか), or hill. i interpret giyuu's family name as meaning something like a mound of riches. separately, the characters in giyuu's given name mean honor (義・ぎ) and courage (勇・ゆう). together they're a different term that means heroism.

our final two names are not people's names. one is the name of giyuu's sword, and the other is a place name. giyuu's sword has these characters engraved on it:

悪鬼滅殺

taken literally, this is a phrase that means Demon Annihilation. 悪鬼 (あっき) uses two kanji meaning evil and ghost/demon/devil, and 滅殺 (めっさつ) means annihilation. those two kanji roughly mean destroy and kill, respectively. in the official english, the name is localized as Destroyer of Demons.

the last name is the name of the place where urokodaki trained tanjirou for final selection.

狭霧山

it means Mist Mountain, with 狭霧 (さぎり) meaning mist/fog and 山 (やま) meaning mountain. in the official english, it's localized as Mount Sagiri. quite unimaginative, in my opinion.

and that's all of them! don't worry, the rest of the name breakdowns shouldn't be as long as this one. i hope you found at least some of the information in this post interesting. i know i did! :D

please look forward to the next post :) 読んでくれてありがとう！